Quote:
Originally Posted by Ark2
Because you are delusional if you don't think where he was drafted 2 years ago shouldn't be used by the Oilers to get more for him. He has been terrible this season, but this season is 12 games old. He's the former first over all pick who scored the most goals and points amongst rookies last season. His stock is quite high. Don't kid yourself.
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You're right that the Oilers should use it as leverage in negotiations and also that his value is high.
Ultimately their team is better off if they move a Yakupov for players they actually need now though, and when the it comes down to it they need to realize that they won't get mind blowing value for him and take solid value. With all their one dimensional offensive forwards they are like a guy with stockpile of cash with a leaking roof watching their house fill up with water, refusing to pay what they see as inflated prices. At some point they need to bite the bullet and bring in some defensive help, some goaltending and some impact 2 way forwards and it will cost them some of their good young players.
Anyway it's kind of irrelevant to the discussion but I personally think Yakupov in particular is a very one dimensional player whose value is going to decline over the next couple of seasons pretty dramatically playing in Edmonton and that they'd be wise to move him. Him and the Oilers would be better off if he gets moved.
He is -10 with a single goal this year and last year he was just OK. He had 11 goals in 45 games until he had his goal explosion in the last two or three meaningless games of the season when no one cared.